Earlier this week, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) announced that it had signed a cooperation and marketing agreement with the Israeli company Syqe Medical to market the world's first cannabis inhaler.
Teva will start distributing the inhaler for pain treatment in Israel in 2017 and Syqe's CEO Perry Davidson has told "Bloomberg" that it is seeking approval in other countries. "Israel is clearly just the start," he said. "We expect to be approved for use in other countries in due course. The US, as the biggest medical cannabis market, is an obvious target."
"Bloomberg" also reports that Syqe will try loading the inhaler with opium and other painkilling substances.
Syqe’s inhaler, which operates with cartridges loaded with medical cannabis, has been used for more than a year at Haifa's Rambam hospital, which Teva reported was the first in the world to prescribe marijuana as a standard medical treatment.
Syqe has raised $33 million to date, including $20 million from Philip Morris International, for which it is developing a device to reduce the harmful effects of smoking.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 1, 2016
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016